Despite awareness efforts, celiac disease is often confused with other gluten-related disorders — like non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) or a wheat allergy. Both seem similar to celiac disease, but are different conditions.
Gluten intolerance causes a lot of the same symptoms as celiac disease, but it's not the same condition. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that leads to damage to the digestive tract. People with gluten intolerance usually find relief from their symptoms by following a gluten-free diet.
Common symptoms of celiac disease may include constipation or diarrhea, food intolerance, and abdominal pain, but as noted, other symptoms may crossover with MS, including brain fog, depression, and even peripheral neuropathy.
If you're not eating gluten-containing foods—or not eating enough of them—it's possible for the testing to come up negative, even if you actually do have celiac disease. It's ideal to continue eating a normal diet, with gluten-containing foods several times a day, until all your testing is completed.
Crohn's disease and celiac disease are two chronic inflammatory conditions. They can cause similar symptoms, which can make telling them apart difficult. While similar in symptoms, they have different causes, triggers, diagnostic criteria, and treatments.
The varied presentations of celiac disease and similarities of its symptoms with other diseases often lead to misdiagnoses such as irritable bowel syndrome, diverticular disease, gastric ulcers, allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome, or fibromyalgia.
The tTG-IgA test is the preferred celiac disease serologic test for most patients. Research suggests that the tTG-IgA test has a sensitivity of 78% to 100% and a specificity of 90% to 100%.
The tTG-IgA test will be positive in about 93% of patients with celiac disease who are on a gluten-containing diet. This refers to the test's sensitivity, which measures how correctly it identifies those with the disease. The same test will come back negative in about 96% of healthy people without celiac disease.
Once a person with celiac disease is on a gluten-free diet for at least 3 months, a doctor commonly checks the antibody tests that were abnormal at diagnosis, namely tTG and/or DGP.
For example, digestive conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, and Crohn's disease share many of the same symptoms as leaky gut, and are all linked with chronic inflammation, but it's not known how, or if, they are connected.
However, a study from the Mayo Clinic in 2019 found celiac disease in 3% of FM patients, and recommended screening for CD in anyone with fibromyalgia. Another small study from 2013 found that 6.7% of patients with both IBS and FM also had celiac disease, whereas zero patients with only IBS had celiac disease.
Research suggests there is an overlap in clinical and laboratory findings between stand-alone SLE and celiac disease. This makes the judgment of doctors extremely important when suspecting someone has both conditions. Gastrointestinal symptoms of SLE can be wide-ranging and difficult to distinguish from celiac disease.
Ocular conditions associated with celiac disease include: Dry eyes: Dry eyes develop when you cannot produce adequate tears to keep your eye moist. Dry eyes related to celiac disease may develop from a vitamin A deficiency. Cataracts: Cataracts may also develop due to malnutrition.
Celiac disease can be painful. Some common pain symptoms are: Stomach pain or swelling (bloating) that keeps coming back. Muscle cramps or bone pain.
Your genes combined with eating foods with gluten and other factors can contribute to celiac disease, but the precise cause isn't known. Infant-feeding practices, gastrointestinal infections and gut bacteria might contribute, as well.
Why Do I/My Child Need an Endoscopy and/or Biopsy? Endoscopies and biopsies are the best way to diagnose celiac disease. A gastroenterologist (doctor who treats people with disorders of the stomach and intestines) will do an endoscopy if your/your child's blood tests or genetic tests show signs of celiac disease.
"At least 10% of new cases of celiac disease are likely to be undiagnosed at routine upper endoscopy, particularly patients over 60 years who more commonly present atypically," Dr. Robson and her team state. In Australia, Dr. Robson and her team note, an estimated two out of three CD patients are undiagnosed.
Some research shows that the protein, casein, in dairy can actually mimic gluten, and create an inflammatory response because of the similarities. One recent study found that as many as 50% of those with celiac disease reacted to dairy casein proteins.
What tests do doctors use to diagnose celiac disease? Doctors most often use blood tests and biopsies of the small intestine to diagnose or rule out celiac disease. Doctors don't recommend starting a gluten-free diet before diagnostic testing because a gluten-free diet can affect test results.
With a specificity rate of 95%, about 5% of people who don't have Celiac disease will receive a positive diagnosis, called a false positive. If you have any of the following medical conditions, you're at an increased risk for a false positive on the tTG-IgA test: Chronic liver disease. Heart failure.
Two blood tests can help diagnose it: Serology testing looks for antibodies in your blood. Elevated levels of certain antibody proteins indicate an immune reaction to gluten. Genetic testing for human leukocyte antigens (HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8) can be used to rule out celiac disease.
A colonoscopy isn't necessary for diagnosing celiac disease, but some specialists may suggest it to get the bottom (sorry) of your symptoms. A colonoscopy allows doctors to see the large intestine whereas celiac disease involves the small intestine, Dr. Bilchik explains.
Diarrhea caused by celiac disease is due to the maldigestion and malabsorption of nutrients. The stools might be watery or semiformed, light tan or gray, and oily or frothy. The stools have a characteristic foul odor.
People with celiac disease have an increased incidence of microscopic colitis and inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis). Microscopic colitis is an inflammation of the colon, or large intestine.